Those involved in the management of animals have long used manual animal gates to corral and contain domestic animals. The manual animal gates have openable portions in a fence line and require human effort and attention to both open the gate to permit the animals to pass through the fence and to prod the animals through the opening. Once the animals have moved through the opening, the openable gate must be manually closed to prevent the animals from returning to the original area. The corralling operation requires considerable human effort.
While the manual animal gate system may be used with domesticated animals such as cattle, horses and pigs, which may be easily trained or encouraged to move through the openable gates, the manual animal gate system is not so effective in corralling or relocating feral animals. Corralling or relocating feral animals is more difficult due to the problems of locating the feral animals in a particular area and enticing the feral animals through the gate in the fence line. Significant human intervention is required during the corralling or relocating operation of feral animals since constant attention must be directed to the gating system to prevent the feral animals from returning to the undesired area once they have passed through the gate. This presents a problem, however, since the presence of a human in the vicinity of the gate to insure that the animals do not return to the original area once they have passed through the gate generally inhibits the enticement of the feral animals through the gate. Thus, a particular dichotomy occurs in that human intervention in the corralling of feral animals is both necessary and defeating.
An animal gating apparatus is thus needed which will relocate animals from one area to another with negligible human intervention.
Doyle, U.S. Pat. No. 1,235,125, discloses, in pertinent part, a cattle loading device in which cattle are prodded or otherwise encouraged up a cleated gangway 35 having an upwardly directed incline. A truck 3 is parked in the vicinity of the inclined end of the gangway 35, with the inclined end higher than the floor 2 of the truck 3. A sheet metal chute 17 is then extended from the inclined edge of the cleated gangway 35 to the floor 2 of the truck 3. As cattle are encouraged up the gangway 35, they reach the inclined edge of the gangway and are motivated to proceed forward until their hooves contact the sheet metal chute 17 where they are involuntarily slid into the truck 3. The chute 17 thus provides a low friction surface to keep cattle moving forward, toward the loading truck, rather than stalling on the gangway 35. The chute 17 also includes short, sheet metal sides 20, presumably to guide the cattle down the center of the chute without slipping over either edge. The Doyle apparatus is designed to encourage a continuous processional of cattle into the loading truck by involuntarily sliding the cattle from the gangway into the truck.
While Doyle thus discloses a low friction one-way passage for animals, Doyle does not disclose that the one-way gate may be used in combination with a barrier fence to coral or relocate domestic or feral animals with minimal human intervention and effort. Further, Doyle does not disclose that the one-way animal gate may have trapezoidal sides to advantageously prevent the animals from jumping over the sides, back through the gate. Accordingly, a one-way gate is needed which entices animals from one side of a barrier fence to another, provides an opening through the barrier fence for the animal to pass, and prevents the animals from returning to the original side.
In addition, a one-way animal chute is needed which discriminates between the types of animals corralled and yet still requires minimal human intervention or effort. When various types of feral or domestic animals are mingled in a particular area, manual segregation of the animal types is tedious and time-consuming. The difficulty associated with segregating the comingled groups is so prohibitive that it generally occurs only in the most essential circumstances. Accordingly, an animal gate is needed which selectively entices and passes animals of a particular type in a co-mingled group through a barrier fence and prevents their return, yet requires minimal human effort or attention.